Castle's First Reef Tank 20 Gallon Cube
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Castle136
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**9 NOV 25 Update**
Okay, thought I'd post some new pics with now all the coral in after the flash sale. And really quick cause I think it's important to give props to companies that have truly superb customer service, thought I'd also add a testimonial for @WWC and why they've secured at least one lifetime customer in this hobby (who's a newbie). I ordered the Jewel Thief Goni off the live sale and was super jazzed. Get the order in and I absolutely love the coral (both the Goni and the Balsto I was able to snag). After a week or so of acclimating, and once again being on WWC's website scrolling through Vic's picks cause....I have a problem, I saw the Hail Hydra Goni and was like "Huh, that looks kinda like the one I have in my tank." Being new to the hobby, I sent a photo and the story to WWC, explaining that I wasn't sure if it was just a needing to acclimate before the coloring changed or if it was maybe the wrong one. Keith on the team (who thank you again Keith and for your diligent work during the live sale haha!) replied in short order that it was in fact not the Jewel Thief and that he would have the correct Goni out to me within four days.
All of that to say, not only do I love the quality of the livestock that WWC stands by - with the knowledge that it is high quality, and pest free - but also that experience with their customer service is above and beyond.
As a newbie, I've been incredibly impressed with both the vendors and community members through places like R2R. Having a community that pushes to help everyone reach success in the hobby is inspiring.
Okay, to the four or five people who's followed along and seen the tank and setup thus far, thanks for reading my monologue. Now pretty pictures.
The GHA problem is going down after getting some GFO into the tank and doing a 48-hour blackout. It's not growing like it was and I added two new members of the CUC a pink urchin (and his many hats) and one more astrea snail. Everyone in the tanks seems to be doing really well and is growing nicely! The Florida Clove is taking some time to adjust after a few moves in the tank to try and find the right spot with flow. The Golden Eye zoa is starting to open back up after the GHA issue and some hydrogen peroxide dips. I'm starting to see the growth which is awesome! Now my goal is to just get my husbandry down and get some solid stability so I can introduce the ever-elusive acros!
Okay, thought I'd post some new pics with now all the coral in after the flash sale. And really quick cause I think it's important to give props to companies that have truly superb customer service, thought I'd also add a testimonial for @WWC and why they've secured at least one lifetime customer in this hobby (who's a newbie). I ordered the Jewel Thief Goni off the live sale and was super jazzed. Get the order in and I absolutely love the coral (both the Goni and the Balsto I was able to snag). After a week or so of acclimating, and once again being on WWC's website scrolling through Vic's picks cause....I have a problem, I saw the Hail Hydra Goni and was like "Huh, that looks kinda like the one I have in my tank." Being new to the hobby, I sent a photo and the story to WWC, explaining that I wasn't sure if it was just a needing to acclimate before the coloring changed or if it was maybe the wrong one. Keith on the team (who thank you again Keith and for your diligent work during the live sale haha!) replied in short order that it was in fact not the Jewel Thief and that he would have the correct Goni out to me within four days.
All of that to say, not only do I love the quality of the livestock that WWC stands by - with the knowledge that it is high quality, and pest free - but also that experience with their customer service is above and beyond.
As a newbie, I've been incredibly impressed with both the vendors and community members through places like R2R. Having a community that pushes to help everyone reach success in the hobby is inspiring.
Okay, to the four or five people who's followed along and seen the tank and setup thus far, thanks for reading my monologue. Now pretty pictures.
The GHA problem is going down after getting some GFO into the tank and doing a 48-hour blackout. It's not growing like it was and I added two new members of the CUC a pink urchin (and his many hats) and one more astrea snail. Everyone in the tanks seems to be doing really well and is growing nicely! The Florida Clove is taking some time to adjust after a few moves in the tank to try and find the right spot with flow. The Golden Eye zoa is starting to open back up after the GHA issue and some hydrogen peroxide dips. I'm starting to see the growth which is awesome! Now my goal is to just get my husbandry down and get some solid stability so I can introduce the ever-elusive acros!
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Looking great!
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Castle136
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**7 Feb 26 Update**
So long time without a post again, hectic holidays and trying to let the reef grow out. I had to do some modifications, the dosing line calcified within the last two weeks (my fault for having it be really long and not cut to size), so that dropped my alk a bit but we are bouncing back! Still dealing with some hair algae on the rock with two of my zoa frags and I've been toying with micro-dosing GFO in order to try and dial in the PO4s. I've been bouncing between .02-.09 and trying to hone in how much I can get in to sustain. I added a pincushion urchin to try and help and it has a ton! It cleared off my AOI zoa frag that was starting to get buildup too. I also saw some vermetid snails and have been able to bone cut and epoxy over two of the big ones and then I've added bumblebee snails to help get the ones I can't see.
Anyway, here are some updated pictures! My candy cane coral has split and my your future ex-girlfriend hammer has also split! Super excited to see the growth and hoping to add some fuzzy sticks in the near future! (Like the next @WWC sale haha! Keep adding to all the WWC tank that's going thus far!)
So long time without a post again, hectic holidays and trying to let the reef grow out. I had to do some modifications, the dosing line calcified within the last two weeks (my fault for having it be really long and not cut to size), so that dropped my alk a bit but we are bouncing back! Still dealing with some hair algae on the rock with two of my zoa frags and I've been toying with micro-dosing GFO in order to try and dial in the PO4s. I've been bouncing between .02-.09 and trying to hone in how much I can get in to sustain. I added a pincushion urchin to try and help and it has a ton! It cleared off my AOI zoa frag that was starting to get buildup too. I also saw some vermetid snails and have been able to bone cut and epoxy over two of the big ones and then I've added bumblebee snails to help get the ones I can't see.
Anyway, here are some updated pictures! My candy cane coral has split and my your future ex-girlfriend hammer has also split! Super excited to see the growth and hoping to add some fuzzy sticks in the near future! (Like the next @WWC sale haha! Keep adding to all the WWC tank that's going thus far!)
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Castle136
Active Member
- Joined
- May 11, 2025
- Messages
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- Reaction score
- 164
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- USA
- What state or country do you live in
- Virginia
**2 April 2026 Update**
Hey everyone! Again, not so great with the updates on here haha! It’s been fun to watch and now I have some fuzzy sticks, I’ve finally made it into my goal of a mixed reef setup! It’s hard to believe that after around 10 months, I’m at the point I was able to even consider acros, let alone have some in the tank! I’m currently waiting to see if the PC rainbow acro bounces back….story time:
So, in dealing with the GHA problem I was having where it was choking out my golden eye zoas, I got a pincushion urchin. It did amazing with the GHA…and then got hungry and a little bulldozy where I have come to believe that it munched on my acro (all things have led to that it’s not bleaching and was just munched on due to the fact it happened from the base, has not progressed further, and I’ve still had polyp extension visible.) Working through it and doing a wait and see with it after moving the urchin to the back portion of my tank with my macro algae (we’ll see as it’s been about three weeks since I moved the urchin and the acro hasn’t died yet). I also believe it had bulldozed my blasto since the frag was doing very well and then one of the heads suddenly died and looked like it had been poked by something. Also saw it on my peach tip torch eating at the base, which exposed it enough for the last gorilla grab in my tank to come out (and got him out from the tank now). So all that to say, the urchin worked so well for algae that I then ran into the problem of it being on the verge of starving and had to move him to where he could get a ton of algae. I am looking at options to either trade him in to the LFS I got him from or even just give it back if they don’t do it since I don’t want it starving and also don’t want it munching on my coral.
In the process and thanks to my YWG and pistol, the Florida clove polyp I got from WWC died (it had been buried one to many times I think and no matter how quickly I tried to unbury it, I think the damage had been done and it finally succumbed) I moved a few frags around to get a new frag I got from ReefEscape to replace the clove polyp since I am a fan of how they look (the only frag in my tank that isn’t WWC haha). Also, a valuable lesson was learned in how much epoxy (or rather how little) I should use. To move my jewel thief, it was…well….an emotional journey for me (and probably a very traumatic one for the jewel thief) to say the least. I have since revised my application of epoxy to the frags and this was the time that I identified all the other coral chomps from the urchin. All of that played into my decision to try and not take the acro out and dip it or do anything else since I had already been in and about the tank so much I didn’t want to add to the stress/trauma.
I’ve had a few minor ups and downs with my alk (going up to 9.4 and then adjusting my doser and it going down to 7.6 the next week) however, we are stabling off again and all changes I was fortunate to not over correct too quickly thanks to some great mentorship in my BIL. Now it’s stead as she goes.
I also just got this new frag rack to house/acclimate my new coral frags from the WWC live sale (got a gift card for my birthday and so well…..the timing worked out perfectly haha!). Bought the frag rack to have as a necessary feature from having the YWG and pistol bury my frags as they acclimate because that has been a real issue for all of my frags in the past and it’s been a constant game of give enough time to acclimate but also get them mounted quickly so they don’t get buried. (Literally just got the frags in minutes before this picture, so they'll need a second to adjust before extending)
Other than the drama above, the mushroom has already dropped a little baby that is growing which is wild to see! And with the GHA gone, my zoas are starting to sprout new heads again! The hammer is dividing and candy cane has already divided twice! It’s been awesome to see it grow over the course of months in taking these photos and I can’t wait to mount my new HNG (AKA, the crown jewel of my tank)! Thank you to Alex and the team for making it happen!
Until next time! Cheers
Hey everyone! Again, not so great with the updates on here haha! It’s been fun to watch and now I have some fuzzy sticks, I’ve finally made it into my goal of a mixed reef setup! It’s hard to believe that after around 10 months, I’m at the point I was able to even consider acros, let alone have some in the tank! I’m currently waiting to see if the PC rainbow acro bounces back….story time:
So, in dealing with the GHA problem I was having where it was choking out my golden eye zoas, I got a pincushion urchin. It did amazing with the GHA…and then got hungry and a little bulldozy where I have come to believe that it munched on my acro (all things have led to that it’s not bleaching and was just munched on due to the fact it happened from the base, has not progressed further, and I’ve still had polyp extension visible.) Working through it and doing a wait and see with it after moving the urchin to the back portion of my tank with my macro algae (we’ll see as it’s been about three weeks since I moved the urchin and the acro hasn’t died yet). I also believe it had bulldozed my blasto since the frag was doing very well and then one of the heads suddenly died and looked like it had been poked by something. Also saw it on my peach tip torch eating at the base, which exposed it enough for the last gorilla grab in my tank to come out (and got him out from the tank now). So all that to say, the urchin worked so well for algae that I then ran into the problem of it being on the verge of starving and had to move him to where he could get a ton of algae. I am looking at options to either trade him in to the LFS I got him from or even just give it back if they don’t do it since I don’t want it starving and also don’t want it munching on my coral.
In the process and thanks to my YWG and pistol, the Florida clove polyp I got from WWC died (it had been buried one to many times I think and no matter how quickly I tried to unbury it, I think the damage had been done and it finally succumbed) I moved a few frags around to get a new frag I got from ReefEscape to replace the clove polyp since I am a fan of how they look (the only frag in my tank that isn’t WWC haha). Also, a valuable lesson was learned in how much epoxy (or rather how little) I should use. To move my jewel thief, it was…well….an emotional journey for me (and probably a very traumatic one for the jewel thief) to say the least. I have since revised my application of epoxy to the frags and this was the time that I identified all the other coral chomps from the urchin. All of that played into my decision to try and not take the acro out and dip it or do anything else since I had already been in and about the tank so much I didn’t want to add to the stress/trauma.
I’ve had a few minor ups and downs with my alk (going up to 9.4 and then adjusting my doser and it going down to 7.6 the next week) however, we are stabling off again and all changes I was fortunate to not over correct too quickly thanks to some great mentorship in my BIL. Now it’s stead as she goes.
I also just got this new frag rack to house/acclimate my new coral frags from the WWC live sale (got a gift card for my birthday and so well…..the timing worked out perfectly haha!). Bought the frag rack to have as a necessary feature from having the YWG and pistol bury my frags as they acclimate because that has been a real issue for all of my frags in the past and it’s been a constant game of give enough time to acclimate but also get them mounted quickly so they don’t get buried. (Literally just got the frags in minutes before this picture, so they'll need a second to adjust before extending)
Other than the drama above, the mushroom has already dropped a little baby that is growing which is wild to see! And with the GHA gone, my zoas are starting to sprout new heads again! The hammer is dividing and candy cane has already divided twice! It’s been awesome to see it grow over the course of months in taking these photos and I can’t wait to mount my new HNG (AKA, the crown jewel of my tank)! Thank you to Alex and the team for making it happen!
Until next time! Cheers
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to the tank!)
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Castle136
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- What state or country do you live in
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**25 July 2026 Update**
Hello everyone! The tank has grown a lot since the last update and it's been so cool to watch grow out. Recently got back from my first 2 week vacation away from the tank and thank God, came back to it being good. Some algae bloom and the alk was a little low at 7.2. But a quick water change and a lot of manual algae removal and it's back to looking great. After testing the auto-feeder for a week using a pot as my tester to make sure everything was working at the correct amount of food I wanted and boom. Fish and coral are happy and healthy! And, the clove polyp has TAKEN OFF! The Zoas have recovered and the mushroom has now spawned two new heads which is insane to see. The acros are beginning to encrust which is making me fangirl over the tank being stable enough to have them begin to grow out. Still working with the algae and PO4 levels. My params are currently:
Salinity: 1.025 (maintained to + or - .001)
Alk: 7.9 (corrected from the 7.2)
PO4: .08 (showing off the test but know there's gotta be more based off the level of algae growth)
Nitrate: 0 PPM
PH: 8.3-8.5
Calcium: 440 PPM
With the PO4 where it is I'm running a sock of GFO in the back sump all the time along with carbon. I just dropped off my old pincushion urchin as it had gotten a taste for acro and nibbled at one of mine that I ended up losing about a month or two back. I had also lost my blasto which I can only attribute to what had been an Alk swing that was too big for it and it ended up having it bleach very rapidly. All that to say, it's certainly not all sunshine and roses with the tank progression and I have learned a lot in the process. After trading in the urchin for a few more astrea snails I also added a brisstle star as part of my CUC for detrites, and also because I really just like them a lot and think they're cool. I'm still waiting to see growth happen with the torches but I know they're slow going. The goni's I'm really happy with and are just a little deflated in the photos from what I think is the lower alk after getting back. But I'm noticing growth which is also awesome!
My next goal is to work on my coloration. I've noticed that despite the growth in a lot of the coral like the hammer (which is now spliting yet again and also has two little branches growing underneath), I've lost a little coloration. So, I'm working on tweaking the dosing to try and increasing nitrates. I'm using aminos and am upping my feeding a bit to try and get my nitrates out from the 0 PPM that it's been at for a very long time.
Anyway, that's all for now on the update to the few following along! As always, patience, thanks everyone for following and also for seeing your progress in your own tanks.
Cheers,
Castle136
Hello everyone! The tank has grown a lot since the last update and it's been so cool to watch grow out. Recently got back from my first 2 week vacation away from the tank and thank God, came back to it being good. Some algae bloom and the alk was a little low at 7.2. But a quick water change and a lot of manual algae removal and it's back to looking great. After testing the auto-feeder for a week using a pot as my tester to make sure everything was working at the correct amount of food I wanted and boom. Fish and coral are happy and healthy! And, the clove polyp has TAKEN OFF! The Zoas have recovered and the mushroom has now spawned two new heads which is insane to see. The acros are beginning to encrust which is making me fangirl over the tank being stable enough to have them begin to grow out. Still working with the algae and PO4 levels. My params are currently:
Salinity: 1.025 (maintained to + or - .001)
Alk: 7.9 (corrected from the 7.2)
PO4: .08 (showing off the test but know there's gotta be more based off the level of algae growth)
Nitrate: 0 PPM
PH: 8.3-8.5
Calcium: 440 PPM
With the PO4 where it is I'm running a sock of GFO in the back sump all the time along with carbon. I just dropped off my old pincushion urchin as it had gotten a taste for acro and nibbled at one of mine that I ended up losing about a month or two back. I had also lost my blasto which I can only attribute to what had been an Alk swing that was too big for it and it ended up having it bleach very rapidly. All that to say, it's certainly not all sunshine and roses with the tank progression and I have learned a lot in the process. After trading in the urchin for a few more astrea snails I also added a brisstle star as part of my CUC for detrites, and also because I really just like them a lot and think they're cool. I'm still waiting to see growth happen with the torches but I know they're slow going. The goni's I'm really happy with and are just a little deflated in the photos from what I think is the lower alk after getting back. But I'm noticing growth which is also awesome!
My next goal is to work on my coloration. I've noticed that despite the growth in a lot of the coral like the hammer (which is now spliting yet again and also has two little branches growing underneath), I've lost a little coloration. So, I'm working on tweaking the dosing to try and increasing nitrates. I'm using aminos and am upping my feeding a bit to try and get my nitrates out from the 0 PPM that it's been at for a very long time.
Anyway, that's all for now on the update to the few following along! As always, patience, thanks everyone for following and also for seeing your progress in your own tanks.
Cheers,
Castle136
Last edited:
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Castle136
Active Member
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- What state or country do you live in
- Virginia
**2 August 2026 Update**
Just some photos taken after my water change yesterday. Things have balanced out after the trip and everything seems happy. Params:
Salinity: 1.025
DkH: 8.1
PO4: .02 (but again, the presence of algae leads me to believe that is not accurate)
Nitrates: 0-1ppm
Calcium: 450ppm
Just some fun pictures working on capturing my little piece of the ocean.
Just some photos taken after my water change yesterday. Things have balanced out after the trip and everything seems happy. Params:
Salinity: 1.025
DkH: 8.1
PO4: .02 (but again, the presence of algae leads me to believe that is not accurate)
Nitrates: 0-1ppm
Calcium: 450ppm
Just some fun pictures working on capturing my little piece of the ocean.
OP
OP
Castle136
Active Member
- Joined
- May 11, 2025
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- USA
- What state or country do you live in
- Virginia
**20 September 2026 Update**
Been fighting the GHA/Turf algae for a bit, finally resorted to pulling the rocks most affected and putting paper towels soaked in 100% hydrogen-peroxide for anywhere from 2-4 minutes depending on how bad. It seems to be going down. Also, got a new fish! The Starry Blenny! His name is Beetlejuice and he's been getting settled right in and feeding on the algae which has been great.
The blenny was an add because my nitrates, despite my best efforts and variety of foods, remain at 0ppm. Despite dosing aminos and the feeding, I've been bottomed out. So adding another fish and my levels are still at 0 but also no weird spikes. Going to need to get a scalpel here soon to start cutting back the clove polyps and the mohawk zoas.
Been fighting the GHA/Turf algae for a bit, finally resorted to pulling the rocks most affected and putting paper towels soaked in 100% hydrogen-peroxide for anywhere from 2-4 minutes depending on how bad. It seems to be going down. Also, got a new fish! The Starry Blenny! His name is Beetlejuice and he's been getting settled right in and feeding on the algae which has been great.
The blenny was an add because my nitrates, despite my best efforts and variety of foods, remain at 0ppm. Despite dosing aminos and the feeding, I've been bottomed out. So adding another fish and my levels are still at 0 but also no weird spikes. Going to need to get a scalpel here soon to start cutting back the clove polyps and the mohawk zoas.
Nixperience
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- Sep 12, 2026
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- 26
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- 40
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- Massachusetts
So far so good. Starry Blenny was one of my favorite fish I ever had. The side eye you like a dog waiting for a treat.
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